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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23721052">No Place I'd Rather Be</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier'>Brumeier</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bite Sized Fic 2020 [28]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stargate Atlantis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, M/M, Mars, Meteor, Prompt Fill, Terraforming</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:21:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>788</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23721052</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>LJ Comment Fic for Mars prompt: <i>Any, any, "Life on Mars" by David Bowie</i></p><p>In which life on Mars isn't as exciting as you might imagine, and John might be a little bored.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rodney McKay/John Sheppard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bite Sized Fic 2020 [28]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1610332</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>No Place I'd Rather Be</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>If you've come here looking for some factual science things, I regret to inform you that I am not science-y. At all. This is pure fabrication with no actual grounding in reality. ::grins::</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sometimes John liked to imagine he was living on Tattooine, and that any moment there’d be an opportunity to join the Rebellion and fly around the universe in super cool spaceships, fighting battles and rescuing princesses.</p><p>Life on Mars was pretty dull.</p><p>The terraforming initiatives that were being implemented by Drs. McKay and Zelenka were ground-breaking and amazing, but also slow to produce results that John could see. Subtle atmospheric changes, the introduction of microbial organisms to the soil…they were important, sure, but not tangible enough.</p><p>There were routines to be maintained, of course. Fine dust had to be regularly flushed from the ventilation system and swept off the solar panels. The hydroponics pod needed monitoring. Rodney, once he’d discovered John’s proficiency for numbers, had tasked him with double-checking increasingly complex equations. If he was <i>really</i> bored, he’d help Lorne prepare meals.</p><p>During down time there were Sudoku puzzles and the Russian novel and, if he was really lucky, some very satisfying sex with Rodney.</p><p>The regular check-in with NASA was the most exciting part of the week, the four of them crowded around the console as they gave their reports and got an update of what was happening Earth-side. </p><p>John supposed he should be glad of the quiet times, because the potential for disaster when things got dicey was exponentially high.</p><p>
  <i>Sir! We’ve got incoming!</i>
</p><p>John raced to Pod2, his heart hammering in his chest. Incoming could only mean one thing – meteor. And with the thin atmosphere of Mars, very little of it would burn up before it slammed into the surface.</p><p>“Do we have a projected target area?” John asked.</p><p>Captain Evan Lorne was monitoring the sensor array that had been set up in low orbit for just such an eventuality. There had been other strikes, but luckily none near Base ERB.</p><p>“This one might be too close for comfort, sir,” Lorne said grimly.</p><p>John clicked on the PA. “Rodney. Radek. We’ve got a meteor incoming and it’s gonna be close. Precautionary measures.”</p><p>There was a panic room, of sorts, that would temporarily protect them in case part of the base was damaged. It wasn’t a long-term solution, though, and any repairs would have to be done fast.</p><p>The computer was doing projections, but John could see Lorne running the numbers in his head as well, his lips just barely moving. He pulled up a map of the base on the secondary monitor and tapped an area just beyond the Rover bay.</p><p>“I think it’ll hit here. That’s going to raise up one hell of a dust cloud, sir.”</p><p>As usual, Rodney was one step ahead of them. <i>Shutting down the ventilation system. Rebreathers, now!</i></p><p>They carried the rebreathers at all times – luckily they were small and lightweight – and John popped his in his mouth. Another temporary fix, but a vital one. Lorne shut down all the vital systems that would be negatively affected by a close-proximity impact, and then they headed for the panic room.</p><p>There was a trapdoor in the floor beneath Pod4, which led to an airlock and a room that had been drilled out of the rock below their feet. Extra space suits were kept down there, plus rations, water, medical equipment, tools, and some of Rodney’s backup tech devices.</p><p>“How big is it?” Radek asked as soon as John and Lorne had descended the ladder. His eyes were wide behind his glasses, and his voice was muffled by the rebreather.</p><p>“Does it matter?” Rodney replied. “Even a small meteor the size of a baseball will wreak havoc with the systems. Is it going to take out any of the solar panels or satellite arrays?”</p><p>“Not according to projections,” Lorne said.</p><p>Rodney’s facial expression made it clear how little he thought of the projections, and he booted up one of his data pads.</p><p>They didn’t have to wait long. In about fifteen minutes there was a strong tremor that shook the panic room, almost knocking John off his feet.</p><p>Rodney tapped rapidly on the data pad. “Looks like some concussive damage to the Rover bay and one of the solar panels. I’m getting green readings across the board for Pod integrity.”</p><p>“Better safe than sorry,” John said. </p><p>He and Lorne suited up and went to have a look around. Even a small crack in a Pod would be disastrous. They were lucky this time, though, and John didn’t have time to be bored while he helped with repairs to the Rover bay while Lorne and Radek tackled the solar panel. Later they’d retrieve the meteorite for study.</p><p>Sometimes John dreamed of bigger things. But that night, curled around Rodney in a too-small bunk, he was exactly where he wanted to be.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p><b>AN:</b> The first thing I thought about when I saw the Mars theme was my terraforming fill from comment_day prompts past. So I had to write more! Even though I can't science. LOL!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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